• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Best foam/mute for P Bass

#23
I've tried using those elastic hair ties...black hardly noticeable...right below the nut. Works good on some basses. You can buy a pack of 20 for a dollar or two.
I've tried the black window/door insulation foam, too. You can buy it by the roll for less than five dollars. I also have a white foam strip (great for a white bass) kind of gummy, not as firm as the black foam. I forget where I got it from but I'll edit this post and add a pic later when I get home.
 
#27
I use a piece of foam, and I think that it works great. It's of moderate density and I have it pretty firmly pressed up against the strings.

I tried emailing these guys a couple of years ago and didn't get a reply. Worth checking out, though.

http://www.bassmute.com/bassmute/bm_mainframe.html

With three different settings (light pressure, more pressure, and off) and the ability to set it up to affect selected strings, I think that it'd be a nice way to go, if you could get your hands on one. Here's a video of a guy who has one. (Might be pt.2)

Mike Masuda's Fender PJ bass (part 1 of 2):
 
#34
I have the Bass Mute by Ellio Martina on a custom Lakland 5'er that I had built a couple of years ago; it's quick to adjust on the fly, but full-mute throws everything quite sharp, and even the half-mute setting sends the E and B strings up a bit. I'm not complaining -- it sounds great when properly intonated, but the physics of it demand a little extra time if switching back and forth between songs. Recently I bought the Gruv Gear fret wraps; so far, so good. Not quite as effective as Bass Mute at dampening, but they don't effect intonation as much, either. (Duh.)
 
  • Like
Reactions: twinjet
#35
fourstringdrums said:
That's what I use. I use two pieces stuck back to back and trimmed to length. The muting on the G is maybe a tad more than I'd like, but I'm happy with it.
Click to expand...

Yes. The old mute was cut at an angle at the G string. Anyway, at the G string end, cut from midpoint along the end to say 5/8" along the neck edge (you are cutting the edge closest to the nut, and the cut is perpendicular to the top of the bass). But remember to cut with the adhesive up because that's the way it goes in the ashtray.

You and Lokosh are on the right track. The keys to mechanical muting:

1. The Fender Precision Bass bridge ashtray. Only this method presses the foam into the string from the top. This means that as you fret, the longer the string length, the less the influence of the rubber, but the deeper the rubber presses into the string in compensation.

2. Stiff foam. I'm going to say I recall the strip being 1/2" wide and a little thicker, maybe 9/16". If anyone reading this has one, please measure it for our reference, and also how far from the open end of the ashtray the sponge is placed. I'm looking at Permatite Dortite open-cell natural sponge rubber adhesive-backed gasketing, but I won't know until I get some.
 
As an Amazon Associate, TalkBass may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via links on this site.
#36
kurosawa said:
Yes. The old mute was cut at an angle at the G string. Anyway, at the G string end, cut from midpoint along the end to say 5/8" along the neck edge (you are cutting the edge closest to the nut, and the cut is perpendicular to the top of the bass). But remember to cut with the adhesive up because that's the way it goes in the ashtray.

You and Lokosh are on the right track. The keys to mechanical muting:

1. The Fender Precision Bass bridge ashtray. Only this method presses the foam into the string from the top. This means that as you fret, the longer the string length, the less the influence of the rubber, but the deeper the rubber presses into the string in compensation.

2. Stiff foam. I'm going to say I recall the strip being 1/2" wide and a little thicker, maybe 9/16". If anyone reading this has one, please measure it for our reference, and also how far from the open end of the ashtray the sponge is placed. I'm looking at Permatite Dortite open-cell natural sponge rubber adhesive-backed gasketing, but I won't know until I get some.
Click to expand...

I don't use it with an ashtray. I just stick it under the strings. If were using an ashtray I'd only need one strip.
 
As an Amazon Associate, TalkBass may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via links on this site.
#37
The ashtray with the foam stuck above the bridge sounds and plays way different. I owned a few Ps and Gibbos and a Rick and only the P mute sounded musical to me. Also it's the magic to getting the fretless P to sound like an upright, that and the flats that came on it, late 70s I think. Just ran across a cool thread that talks about an older kind of Sears weatherstrip: Invalid Link Removed
 
#38
fourstringdrums said:
I don't think you could play most of Jamerson's lines by palm muting. Personally I don't think it sounds the same. You can pick with a different attack with your fingers and a mute than palm muting.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Jamerson had the ashtray on in every photo I've seen, and it sounds like he left the foam strip in place.

And yeah, palm muting is painfully slow. Prestia's superpower is muting with both hands. Plus he must be all fast-twitch muscles. I got to talk after a gig once while he was wrapping cords. His action is a little high and he alternates two fingers. That night he had to use a bass someone gave him as a gift.

That's when I quit trying to be Rocco. There can be only one. I started looking for another way. The one way I found to get speed with total muting control is to pick. I was amazed at how much meat I got picking and muting with both hands. More meat than I get with fingers. And incredible dynamic range and focus.

The main deal is to never anchor my hand or do anything else that makes me pick from the wrist. That's where things slow down. What I do, a guitarist taught me this, is wear the bass high and pick from the elbow. Felt insecure and uncontrollable for an eternity, then it felt natural and I began muting naturally with the base of my thumb and palm heel, that horseshoe-shaped patch of flesh.
 
#39
Fender made mutes for their basses years ago.
Seems like this would be an item that might sell if it were developed for
popular bridges. Something that could easily clamp on.
I use my right hand but get cramped up too much & cannot keep
a consistent muting pressure.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back